Tale of James
by Cascadia90210
Summary: This is the tale of James. "So that explains the title!" says the really sarcastic reader. I posted this before and then I took it down. Well now I'm reposting it. I've edited the chapters, so start from the beginning. Please read and review.
1. James

**A/N: I had this posted earlier. I took it down and now it's back up. Enjoy! I own nothing. Stephanie Meyer owns everything. I'm just borrowing her stuff. **

James followed her as she ran through the cool night air. He followed her into the alley. He surprised himself with his intrest. He was lured by her scent and pulled in by her fear. She turned to glance at him. He winced as her beautiful face was clouded with anguish. He forced his gaze away from her eyes. He didn't want her to stop; he relished the chase, almost as much as he looked forward to the blood, and he hadn't had the former in so long. He promised himself not to cloud her judgement with his poisonous copper eyes. He took a step forward.

She was about to lose her reason, she was about to scream. He sighed in exasparation. "I never get to have fun anymore," he said under his breath. He took another step forward.

The girl stepped backwards and tripped over her feet. A pitiful, but soft, wail escaped her lips as she slammed into the cement. And as she began to wimper, James was upon her. He knelt down next to the shaking girl, and reached out a long, pale finger.

"Silence," he cooed, placing his finger to the girls lips.

She shuddered as his cold finger traced her shivering lips. He laughed as tears streamed down her face. His finger caressed her chin and James sighed quietly as he dragged his finger to the base of her neck, feeling her pulse beat underneath his finger. Her breath came in loud gasps. She was getting louder, but he couldn't bring himself to quicken it.

"Why should I make it less fun for me?" James asked the pitiful girl, knowing she couldn't answer.

He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and stood, dragging her with him. Her feet dangled uselessly in the air as he finally looked in her eyes. The fear in her wet green eyes, arroused his thirst and awakened his hunger simultaneously. He brought her closer to him and kissed her on the mouth. Her screams were muffled by James's hungry lips. She pushed at his chest, in an attempt to get him to let her go. Still kissing her, he opened a door that led to a small storage space that he knew would be empty.

James pulled her away from him and looked at her. She whimpered as he fingered the blond hair that framed her angelic face. His gaze lingered at her neck. He could hear her blood swishing in her veins, he could smell the succulent liquid, blocked by only a thin layer of skin. His silent laughter shook both him and his captive. He threw her to the floor and locked the door as he crept towards her.

"Scream as much as you like," James hissed, "Your fear only makes it better." He grabbed her as she tried to slide away, "Fight as much as you want," he hovered over his struggling prey, holding her in a cage of his arms and legs. "You shan't get away, you are mine."

He pressed himself on top of her to stop her from struggling. A pleasant shudder passed through him as he was penetrated by the warmth of her skin, her blood, and her heart. He enjoyed the feel of the blood running through her body. Ignoring the green eyes that begged him to stop, he crushed his stone cold lips against her trembling wet lips. James opened his mouth over hers and turned his head so her lips would have to part as well. Her warm breath filled his mouth and it was all he could do to keep from crying out. She struggled underneath him and he moaned in content at the sensation. He releasesd his tounge from behind his teeth and ran it behind her lips and then touched her tounge with his own. She struggled more and he wrapped his legs around hers and ran his hands through her hair in response.

Panting, James lifted his head to look at her expression. Her face was a mixture of fear, pain, and horror. _She didn't like that at all?! _he thought. He felt the beast within him well up in his anger. He dragged his tongue over her face and rested his open mouth on her pulsing neck. "Good-bye, little girl," James whispered, "I am sorry that we could not play longer."

Upon hearing the finality of his tone, a giant wave of fear crashed down over her, her heart rate skyrocketed, and her final sound was a loud combination of a scream and a sob. James was excited by the speed of the pulsing of the blood. Unable to control himself, his fangs pierced the pale skin of her neck. Blood poured into his mouth, and oozed out of the corners of his lips. Shudders passed through his body as he swallowed. The girl convulsed as James drank. When she was still, he pulled the limp girl into his arms. The girl's head fell back as James drank greedily, thirstily, hungily. When there was no more blood left to drink James set the corpse down, licked her cold neck, closed her cloudy eyes, kissed her lifeless lips (smearing them with blood) and wiped the blood off of _his_ mouth using her sleeve. On his way out he opened a Ziploc bag and dropped its contents onto the cold floor.

He stepped out of the storage facility and closed the door, hiding the dead girl and the just planted student ID of her boyfriend, who was the last human to see her alive, from view. As he walked out of the alley, he laughed to himself as the girl's final scream rang in his ears. He licked his lips, and sighed as he recognized metalic liquid.

**A/N: So that's the prolouge. Review please. You know what... I'm not even going to inconvience you with telling you to review. Just put a rating 1-10, 1 being **_**'It stunk'**_**, 10 being **_**'It was fantabulistical'**_**.**


	2. Victoria

**A/N: So here it is, the next chapter... I don't own any of the characters in it though. Stephanie Meyer does. And no copyright infringement is intended.**

James knew by her actions that she couldn't feel his gaze. He watched her put her dishes away. Her long red hair glistening in the moonlight streaming through her window. As usual, she looked out the kitchen window. James felt a stab of pain as he saw the pain in her eyes.

_Vivian_, he thought. He longed to be in the house with his arms wrapped around the beautiful girl.

Her beautiful brown eyes lifted to the moon and she whispered, as she did each full moon, her wish. _Please watch over James. _A single tear streamed down Vivian's face. _Please bring him back to me._

James released a tear less sob. He reached out towards her, his fingers grasping the empty night air. He buried the impulse to cry out. He watched with torment as Vivian closed the curtain, turned off the lights in the kitchen and walked into her bedroom. He knew he was the reason for her pain. He knew that he was to blame for her solitude and misery. James sighed a strangled breath against the window as Vivian drifted off to sleep.

"You're still fawning over that idiot cousin of mine?" A female voice purred behind him.

James eyes opened wide, and he stood quickly. "Hello, Victoria. I didn't expect to see you here."

"I was passing through, stopped for a ... drink," Victoria said coolly.

James reached into his pockets and glanced idly at the moon, "I haven't seen you in-"

"Three years," Victoria finished. He could here the tension in her voice. He could sense the underlying anger that she felt.

James looked at the woman, her bright red hair differing so much from her cousin's. Vivian's reminded him of a summer sunset, while Victoria's always moved in unseen wind, like angry flames.

"The last time we met, it wasn't under such _pleasant_ circumstances," Victoria smiled as James cringed at the memory. "I'll go and leave you with your thoughts. You know where to find me, if you need to talk." Too fast for James to see, Victoria ran farther into the night, leaving a streak of red, glued to Jame's eyes.

James stared at the spot where Victoria stood moments before, trying to stop the memory from flashing before his eyes. He ran in the opposite direction of Victoria. He shut his eyes against the images.

Vivian smiled at him and pulled him by the hand. "Come on, my family will love you, I promise!" She had cried happily.

James reluctantly let her pull him into the house.

James stopped remembering and opened his eyes, he stood in front of the church were he was supposed to married, way back when...James shook himself and crept around to the back and while sitting amongst the graves, he let his mind replay the horrible memory.

James reluctantly let her pull him into the house. Immediately he was greeted by family, food, and laughter.

"Mommy!" Vivian had screamed. Vivian and her mother embraced and Vivian dragged her mother to meet James.

"Mom, this is James, the one I was telling you about," Vivian said with a secretive tone in her voice.

"James," her mother had said appreciatively, "Vivian has told me that you and her are dating."

James couldn't help but notice how similar Vivian was to her mother. Everything was the same, except for her hair. Vivian's mother's hair was jet black. "Yes ma'am," James said politely, "I love your daughter very much."

Vivian and her mother met each other's eyes and then Vivian's mother turned back to him. "You don't have to worry about calling me ma'am," she assured him. "Just call me mom."

James nodded with a smile. "Oh here comes daddy!" Vivian cried. James's smile slid off of his face. He heard Vivian's mother chuckle at the worry in his expression.

"Hello, James," Vivian's father said with a deep voice. Her father's hair was a lighter shade of red than Vivian's and his eyes lacked the kindness her mother's had had.

"Hello, dad," James choked. He offered his hand.

Vivian's father returned a bone crushing handshake. "It's Mr. Madison, to you, boy," Mr. Madison growled.

James stopped himself from jumping. "Yes, sir."

Vivian pushed her father on the shoulder. "Daddy, be nice," she mock scolded her father and then burst out laughing.

After he met Vivian's parents, he met her siblings, and her grandparents. Finally, Vivian introduced him to her best friend, her cousin, Victoria.

Victoria looked over James with a raised eyebrow and an odd smile. Her dark eyes were expressionless and her pale skin seemed to glow and radiate light. Victoria's red hair was the last thing Jame's noticed. And as Vivian and Victoria exchanged words, James found himself longing to run his fingers through Victoria's hair. He shook himself mentally. _You can't like your fiance's cousin._ But he did.

For two months, he visited Vivian's family and everytime they met, Victoria was there. She was to be the maid of honor in the wedding, but he couldn't help but be annoyed at her constant presence. It was as if she was aware of how much he thought of her and wanted to distract him from Vivian as much as possible. Everytime he saw her, he noticed something new about her.

First, he noticed how wild her hair was. He compared it with Vivian's flat, manageable hair, and somehow, he liked Victoria's better. He could get lost looking at it. Sometimes he swore it moved on its own accord. Then Victoria would throw it over her shoulder and it would catch in the light of the moon and dance.

Second, he noticed how pale her skin was. He made the mistake of asking Vivian about it and her expression became somber.

"A few years ago," she'd said sadly, "Vivian called me and told me that she had been getting sun burnt really badly, even when there was no sun. She said she went to the doctor, and that he said, she'd developed some kind of allergy to the sun."

"Oh," he nodded slowly. "So that's why you wanted a nighttime wedding?"

She nodded carefully. "Our family rescheduled all of our getttogethersso that she could come."

Everytime they saw her for a meeting with the wedding planner, or just a casual night out, he found himself enchanted by her. He found himself watching as she left a room. He found himself smiling whenever she spoke. She was beautiful. Not that Vivian wasn't, but she was a different kind of beauty.

Vivian had a kind and soft face. Everything about her signaled innocence. Victoria, though, had a fierce, almost evil, beauty. Everything about her screamed bad girl. But she wasn't. She was just tall and had angular features.

The thing that enticed James was her eyes. They seemed to be a different color everytime he saw her. They varied from a dark red to plain black. Vivian's eyes, he noted with monotony, stayed brown all the time.

Later, they were in the church and Victoria was saying the usual, 'Take care of my cousin' speech. Again, there was a red tint in her eyes as she spoke to James. Questions raised in James's mind, but he held his tongue. Instead watching her hair as she talked. That was what he thought he liked best about her. Her hair seemed to have its own life. It was amazing.

"Wanna go for a drink?" Victoria asked.

Victoria had taken James to a bar he'd never been to before. In truth, he didn't drink much. Vivian frowned upon it. It started out with a beer for him and a beer for her. Then he had another. She only drank half of hers. While he drank, they told different stories about Vivian.

"And then," James snickered. "She freaked out when I brought it into the house. 'No, James, bats have germs!' " He laughed uproariously at his horrible impression of Vivian. Victoria chuckled.

He flourished wildly at her unfinished beer. "Are you gonna finish that?" he asked. By the time they'd left the bar, James was buzzed and he had to make an effort to keep his words from slurring.

Victoria was oblivious to his near-drunken state. "Let's go dancing," she suggested brightly.

"Okay," James agreed after glancing at his watch. It was only 10:30. How long were they going to dance?

But Victoria's idea of dancing was a giant warehouse packed with people. They had to be close to stay together. It was loud, and the atmosphere radiated with something James hadn't had in a long time- fun. The flashing lights, made everything trippy. When slow songs came on, Victoria pressed her body close to James. He couldn't be sure because of the alcohol running through his system, but her skin seemed cold. James had twirled Victoria and watched in awe as her hair spun with her. She tossed her hair in time with each song. Sometimes she threw her hips as well.

The loyal part of James told him to look away as she danced, or to call Vivian and let him know she was alright. But he ignored the loyal part of himself as Victoria danced to a loud rap song- if dancing was the right word. She had moved on him, around him, with him, without him. She was everywhere and so where her hands. There bodies met at spots that brought color to his cheeks and mischief to her eyes. Those eyes told him to continue, begged him to go further, and pulled him onto the dance floor with her.

He spent part of the time at the bar. First there was beer. Then he got experimental. First trying jelly shots, and working his way up to **ABBY/ MATT? QUENTIN?** When everything started getting funny, everyone seemed to have a Siamese twin, and his words became unintelligible, Victoria appeared from nowhere. She pulled him away from the bar and back onto the dance floor.

They moved together. Their bodies as one. She turned and pressed her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on her shoulder. He drank some more and then jumped onto the floor again. This time, they faced each other and communicated with their eyes. Whatever he saw in hers made him feel elated. He was thrown to the roof of the building each time she batted her eyelashes. The loyal part of James that had made him feel guilty was silenced by all the drinking he had done.

After a while, the flashing lights that had once made James want to do things that would have broken Vivian and his mother's hearts, made him dizzy. The music that had been so cool and fun to listen to had turned loud and annoying. He was tired of being pulsated by the deep sub woofers of the speakers. His head hurt, his hearing faded in and out, and he was tired.

He leaned in as he danced with Victoria. "Can we go?" he yelled to be heard.

She nodded and led him outside. With one look at James, she declared that he wasn't going to make it home and that she wouldn't have the strength to carry him. James was easily convinced to go to Victoria's apartment. He didn't notice until much later but, Victoria didn't seem affected by the alcohol at all.

Victoria lived right around the corner from the club. As soon as he was there, she insisted that he sleep. "Here take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch."

That was the last thing he remembered before waking up with Victoria straddling him.

"My cousin doesn't deserve you," she whispered huskily.

"Your eyes-" James muttered drowsily. Her eyes were a bright red.

"You should love me," Victoria hissed in James's ear, "You should adore me. You should be with me."

"But Vivian-" James said, wincing as his head throbbed.

"Forget about her. I know your attraction to me. I have seen it in your eyes everytime you come around. I have heard the pauses in your breath, the acceleration of the beating of your heart." Her voice was not accusing. She was just stating facts.

But the feeling the presenting of these facts gave James, was proof enough that they were facts indeed. Although he was marrying Vivian, he had eyes for her cousin as well. "I-," he started, but there was no defense strong enough, she spoke the truth.

He tried to move out from under her but her body seemed like stone on top of him. It was then that he became aware of her closeness, her cold body left his skin warm. He tried to ignore the feelings of lust that the sensation gave him, but one look into Victoria's desire filled eyes shattered his will power.

Seeing his resistance break, she leaned down and kissed him. Both their mouths opened simultaneously, and their tongues began battling for dominance. She rolled them over, and James only dully noted that Victoria had incredible strength. James unbuttoned Victoria's blouse and threw it across the room, she ripped his shirt to shreds. Victoria's hands traveled down to Jame's belt buckle.

"Vivian, hurry up!" James moaned.

"What?!" Victoria screeched.

The color drained from James's face. "I- mean," he stammered to correct his mistake, but couldn't think of a good excuse for his slip up.

A growl rumbled in Victoria's chest and a scream erupted from her throat. She lunged for James and bit him savagely in the throat. When she ripped her head away from his neck, he saw her teeth. The teeth that were too large to be normal. They were pointed, sharp, and covered in his blood. The wound stung and then the sting started to seep throughout his entire body. James yelled and felt the blood running from his neck. When he went to wipe it away and roll off of the bed, he found he couldn't move.

For three days, Victoria left him there, screaming and crying out from the pain. Sometimes she watched him writhe, with a cruel smile on his face. Other times she lingered by the window, ignoring him. His thoughts raced back and forth from Vivian to Victoria. Again he pined for his fiance, and again he yearned for her cousin. Once he begged for Victoria to kill him. The pain was too great to bear. Not only the strange fire that ripped him apart, but his guilt as well. His mind kept reminding him of his attraction to Victoria, and how easily he had betrayed Vivian.

On the first day when his body wasn't being tormented with pain, it was being tortured with the undeniable craving for... what exactly?

"You are like me now," Victoria said, "It is too much of a risk for you to be near your family." Her voice was cold and unpitying. Her eyes were a dark red. "You would kill them and drink their blood."

As she said it, James recognized what he yearned for- blood.

"As far as they know, we went out for drinks. I was wishing you good luck while you were listening to my advice. On our way home my car was carjacked and we were kidnapped. Vivian postponed the wedding. And if you return to that, wench, then you will be overcome with the desire to _kill_ her. So I'd stay away from her, if I were you." It was then that a dark smile twisted her features. With a chuckle she turned towards the door. She stopped and muttered, "I'll be here if you need to talk." Then, Victoria walked away.

James fell to the ground shaking, and found that he could not cry. He walked out the door and found it was night again. He loitered around town for a few hours and then went to talk to Victoria. She explained everything that he could do and drilled in him the most important rule: The secret of the Vampires must be kept a secret.

James opened his eyes and turned away from his memories to find the sky a light purple. With a start, he ran out of sight, lest anyone see him sparkling in the sun.

**A/N: So how was it? For those of you that read the earlier version of this, you can see I've made a lot of changes. I'm still sticking with the whole RATE policy. Even if you're reading this story after it's been complete for five years. Go ahead and RATE it! Review if you want me to be really happy.**


End file.
